Updating database field in PHP when link is pressed - php

Question

My page lists out all of the rows from a MySQL table and puts them inside separate divs as links.
while($row = mysqli_fetch_array($result))
{
echo "<a href='projects/" . $row['dir'] . "'><div>";
echo "<h2>" . $row['name'] . "</h2>";
echo "<p>Created: " . $row['date_created'] . "</p>";
echo "<p>Last opened: " . $row['date_last_opened'] . "</p>";
echo "<p>" . $row['description'] . "</p>";
echo "</div></a>";
}
When I click on a box (div), it opens that specific project. What I need, is to update the 'date_last_opened' field for a project to the current date when I click into one. The column for it in the table is of type 'date'.
Thanks to anyone that can help.

Answer 1

Simple method would be use of Jquery and AJAX:
First add click function to your link in while loop like this:
echo "<a href='projects/" . $row['dir'] . "' onclick='update(".$row['name'].")';><div>";
and in your JS file use Jquery Ajax:
function update(name){
var now = new Date();
var dateToInsert = now.format("dd/M/yy h:mm tt");//or whatever format you need
var projectName = name;
$.ajax({
type: "POST",
url: "update.php",
data: { date: dateToInsert, name: projectName}
})
.done(function( msg ) {
alert( "Data Saved: " + msg );
});
}
and your update.php:
if(isset($_POST['date']) && $_POST['name']){
$sql = "update yourTable set date ='".$_POST['date']."' where name= '".$_POST['name']."'";
//Rest of the code to execute query
}
else{
echo "AJAX call failed to send post variables";
}